Red Fox

Driving north along the A12 at 8.50am this morning on the way to work, just before I reached the Hospital roundabout I could see in a field to the east of the road, a Red Fox "snuffling" around.

The enclosed pic was taken recently in Wales.

See my blog for early morning 24/1/10 below.

1 Hare, 100+ Fieldfares, 3 Rough-Legs & 25 Woodcock!!

A look around Mutford turned up a few more Fieldfare (around 10) & Redwing too (around 15) all fairly distant, but most photogenic though, was a sleepy Hare in a field. It woke up, "boxed" (it's not March yet, although Jenny fervently wishes it was!) and then ran off!

The fields near Covehithe were scoured and again the field, which you reach by taking the A12 to Wrentham, turn off towards Southwold and then take the left turn to Covehithe, 300 yards up here on the right, is the Fieldfare field. Today, it hosted some 70 Fieldfare all were seen fairly close to the road. I managed to get a few shots, but looking into the bright sun was far from ideal. back to the main Southwold road & taking the next turn to the right, looking around the farm with the Horse in the field, 1 Fieldfare was seen really close to the road. It was photographed through gaps in the hedge. Another Fieldfare was seen in a field further up. Nearer the bridge, a field hosted some 15 Fieldfares again looking directly into the sunlight! Why do 90% of Fieldfare flocks, flock in fields where you are looking directly into the sun??

At Southwold on the Golf Practise green, a flock of 9 Black- tailed Godwit were feeding at the back, they walked left and then flew left and over Southwold marsh before changing their minds, they turned west and flew over heading west.

At the Bailey Bridge, I could see just west on the River Blyth, a flock of 12 Dunlin that flew onto the south side of the riverbank and I managed to get some reasonably close shots of them.

walking back a very close Turnstone was seen feeding on some green turf, whilst overhead I heard "yapping" calls, I looked up and saw a flock of 19 White- fronted Geese flying directly overhead in a north- westerly direction. About 5 Redshank seen here also. Back at the Practise green, I managed to see 1 excellent Water Pipit for 10 minutes before it too flew east high over Southwold marsh. At Potters Bridge, 2 female Marsh harriers flew over the reedbed.

Back at the Fieldfare field, the 70 Fieldfare were showing well again and as the cloud briefly obscured the bright sun I managed to obtain a few reasonable shots.

Viewing Chedgrave marshes and joining the assembled throng (Andrew E, Rob W, Richard S, Roger C, Phil H & others) from the "Bun" (a raised area) at the edge of the woods giving an ideal view over the marshes to the west. I immediately saw the Rough- legged buzzard perched on a gate post. Also flying over the marshes was an excellent Short- eared Owl and an equally excellent ringtail Hen Harrier. The Rough-leg flew from his post and flew right and then left. At excatly the same time to the feft of that bird, another Rough- leg flew right and was joined by a third Rough- leg, so there were incredibly 3 Rough- legged buzzards flying around!!! Other observers having confirmed this afterwards also. Certainly a record number for the local area. The Short- eared Owl quartered the fields as did the female Hen Harrier which flew strongly right. About 3 female Marsh harriers were flying around also.

The Rough- legs all disappeared for twenty minutes, before I saw a single bird perched on a gate post below the distant church. A typically squat bird with small head, pale upper breast and dark rear belly, I let everybody know especially the newcomers who were keen to see it. As twilight descended, it flew off towards us and flew directly overhead, silhouetted beautifully against the rose- pink horizon. It will presumably roost somewhere in Waveney Forest. We witnessed the wonderful spectacle of mostly singleton but also sometimes a duo of Woodcock flying from over the forest and out onto the marsh, 25 Woodcock were counted in total, and I personally saw at least 18 of their number.

A Round trip

Overnight, we had about 2 inches of snow and a white blanket covered the Lowestoft landscape. As we were walking to the car in front of the house I heard the familiar scraping "catch" call looked up at 10.20am and saw 2 Snipe flying due west and directly over the house and front garden.

First stop was a look around Mutford for Fieldfares, the first ones were seen 4 perched on telegraph wires and a Kestrel flew over as well.

A Field (7 Fieldfares), trees and field entrance revealed another 7 birds.

Benacre Broad was full of birds, 11 flying lapwings seen on the way down, but sadly no hard weather fowl could be seen on the Broad whatsoever. Loads of Gulls BH Gulls (c500), Common Gulls (c30)and 15 Herring Gulls were observed right in front of the hide.

In the small inlet to the right, Little Grebe, a fine drake Pintail, Teal and mallard seen.

In total around 4 Little Grebe seen, 4 Pintail (3 males and 1 female), 500+ Teal, around 100 Wigeon and 30 Pochard together with 9 Goldeneye over the far side, including 2 very smart males and 7 females. The ducks were disturbed by a female Marsh Harrier quartering the reeds just north of the Hide.

Travelling to Southwold around 60 Fieldfare were seen feeding very close to the road in a field south of the road. Very little seen at Southwold save for a BH Gull feeding on a small Sand Eel in the Harbour.

Redwing is back!

On Wednesday 27th January I spied the Redwing perched near the top of the tree, it had flown up here after a dog walker had disturbed it. With snow this evening (Friday 29th) I would expect to see a few more in the garden again. Time for a trip to the local supermarket for more cheap apples!

Oulton Broad

Early morning at 8.10 a Woodcock flew north over St. Nicholas Everitt Park and the Broad itself.

I also saw a Wren, a lucky survivor of the recent very cold spell of weather we have just had.

Black Kite Magic

I have just returned from a very enjoyable trip to South & Mid Wales, primarily to see family but with some birding thrown in for good measure!

On Thursday 21st January, Mum's feeder hosted a range of birds including a couple of Marsh Tits which regularly perched on the fence before using the feeders. Coal Tit, 2 Blue Tit and 3 dominant Great Tit would also use these feeders. A female Sparrowhawk flashed by, scaring all the small birds & she perched in the trees at the back for a while before flying off.  A Treecreeper scurried up the branch of a nearby tree. A Jay briefly visited feeding on the ground.

3 Blackbird, a male and 2 females were seeing off a lot of birds, like a playground bully seeing off Robin & Dunnock.

The walk down the hill to Llanddarog stream was initially very disappointing . But by the first stream I heard a harsh "Tit-like" call followed by "tear tear tear". Raising my bins I saw a black- capped very white-cheeked & bull-necked Tit with an extensive white panel on the wing, an excellent Willow Tit. It was perched in a bush but quickly flew off. Meanwhile a Treecreeper crept at the back of a bush, whilst a Buzzard flew overhead. Walking back past the road to the return uphill route past the bridge, a 100 Redwing flew out of a tree and over fields perching in other trees whilst a Buzzard also flew by.

On Friday 22nd January, as I walked down the hill I heard the chattering of a Nuthatch from the wood to the right. By the Bridges past LLanddarog stream, a Dipper flew west overhead calling a harsh"tszchik" call. It later flew east over the bridge and past me showing its bi-coloured white-brown underparts.

A rasping call from the dead weeds by the bridge, revealed an excellent Lesser Redpoll that flew up to a large bush where it perched briefly before flying off. A Raven flew east in the distance.

It took 1 1/2 hours to travel to the mid Wales site of Gigrin Farm, a Red Kite feeding station, with several very steep hills (10% gradient or more!) negotiated on the journey! Turning off, through a farm and paying the princely sum of £15 for a spot for the best photography spot from the Tower Hide, I walked over to the hides, 3 in a semi-circle and one raised up by around 30 foot, the aforementioned Tower Hide. I joined 2 other birder/ photographers and we overlooked a few fields bordered by large trees at the back. Just after 2 pm the tractor chugged over the field cuts of meat were shovelled out onto the field right in front of us. Initially it took some time for the raptors to take the bait, Red Kites were perched in trees at the back including a very white looking leucistic individual, a White Red Kite no less! Leucism stops the normal colouration of the pigmentation of the feathers, in this case the red feathers were mostly white. First up were 5 Buzzard, which flew down and started eating their afternoon meal. no sooner had they done so, when the Kites, eventually up to 200 Red Kites wheeled and circled overhead and they dived down to scoop up individual cuts of meat without landing.

I spotted the bird I had travelled to see, that resembled a Black- eared Kite. The Asiatic form of the ubiquitous Black Kite widespread on the continent. It was a slightly, smaller and darker more compact bird with more wedge shaped rather than forked tail, compared with the Red Kite. Its pale head contrasted with a chocolate brown area around the eye. It had pale cream tipped wing coverts proving it was an immature bird. It flew around for a while circling before snatching some meat. Fortunately, after 20  minutes it returned and this time with much better lighting, the cloudy skies having been lifted and being replaced by sunshine which lit the wheeling Red and Black Kites beautifully. The Black Kite scooped up some more meat and flew off once more. My attention switched to the Red Kites and several soared right over the Tower Hide! The Kites had several feeding spurts, during the hour and a half observation, I witnessed 3 such spurts when the gathered and circled over the field for some 10-15 minutes before most disappeared until the process was repeated some 15-20 minutes later!

A Raven, Rook and Grey Heron was also seen in the field.

Finally I met the owner of the Farm and he said when they first started feeding the Kites in the early 1980's they were only attracting 6 Red Kites! Now with around 200 present they have put out every day (365 days a year) a grand total of 80 kilo's weight of meat costing 60p a kilo therefore costing £48 daily, taken in that context the £15 charge doesn't seem quite so steep!

I was very pleased with the pictures I obtained of the Black Kite (see above.)

UPDATE 5/2/10 Dick Forsmann, a world authority on raptors; has seen the pictures and has pronounced the Kite cannot be a Black- eared Kite and is therefore a Black Kite, because the white "windows" by the carpal joints on the underwing are too small and not large enough for Black- eared Kite.

On Saturday 23rd January, during the local Llanddarog walk I heard several Redwings calling in the wood opposite Mum's house, one Redwing was seen perched in a tree. By the first bridge a Nuthatch fed at the base of a nearby tree near the river. A Buzzard was heard mewing too.

A very pleasant walk with the family along the Sustrans cycle track near Llannon revealed a Marsh Tit and Robin by the bird table and a Dipper flying away down a distant stream on the right.

My final walk down the hill on Sunday 24th January revealed a marvelous Red Fox in the field to right, which trotted along the field and briefly turned around to look at me! Carrying along the Llanddarog stream, it finally revealed 2 excellent Dipper feeding at the point where the stream diverted away from the road. 2 further Dipper seen at the Bridges, one right underneath the Bridge that sadly flew on approach and another singing Dipper that could not be seen and that also flew. By the trees and bushes by the second bridge, 2 calling Willow Tits were seen again and were photographed.

Back at Mum's feeders, the 2 Marsh Tits were joined by a feeding immature male Reed Bunting on the deck, brief visits by the Jay again and overflying Mistle Thrush, Redwings and Long-tailed Tits

Winter Wonders!

On the first really nice sunny day for sometime, I decided to join my fellow Scilly (Jenny would call us silly birders!!!) birders John H & Andrew H on a very pleasant trip around east Norfolk.

On the journey we drove past 3 Fieldfares feeding on the grass by the side of the road near the turn off to Stokesby.

First up, was a stop at Cantley where overlooking the marshes here we saw a group of 4 excellent Taiga Bean Geese, although distant they are a fine elegant goose with long necks and orange on the bill. behind them was another group of 5. Throughout are stay here small groups of Bean Geese flew in and we counted at least 38 birds in total. Once they were disturbed by a Chinese Water deer feeding next to them.

Nearer the river was a small 35 strong flock of White- fronted Geese. Also seen was a Green Woodpecker flying by.

Driving to Norwich, we parked in Lower Clarence Road and were informed by Chris L (Justin L's brother) that the Waxwing was feeding on the apple tree viewable through an iron mesh compound but at the moment it was lower down in the tree and we needed to walk down to the Railway Station and view from the western most platform. As soon as we started walking, a shout went up and joining the assembled throng we could see the excellent Waxwing feeding voraciously near the top of the tree on one of the Apples. It showed for a while before hopping down again.

John's pager suddenly beeped informed us that a RN Grebe was at Whitlingham Lane Great Broad, being only 3 miles away that was our next port of call.

As soon as we arrived from the car, I could not miss the Great Northern Diver showing very well indeed so I dashed over to the edge of the Broad and fired off many shots as the bird even lifted itself up from the water and flapped its wings (see top photo!) It eventually swam further away.

We switched out attention onto first one and then 2 Redhead Smew swimming with ducks on the far side of the Broad just in front of the ice on the far side.

I was just starting to look at a female Goosander perched on the extreme right edge of an island north of the Broad when a shout of Red- Necked Grebe went up. We dashed over and I just caught the bird as it dived!

The chap who had originally re-spotted it was not entirely sure but I picked it up immediately as it re-surfaced and it was indeed the super Red- Necked Grebe. I called it out and directed everybody onto it. Slightly smaller and darker than Great Crested Grebe (around 10 were seen nearby) with a dark bill with yellow at the base. The bird frequently dived we followed it as it swam over to the far left of the broad before swimming back to the middle always keeping itself on the far side. The female Goosander was seen again too, this time swimming on the water.

Next up was Barton Broad, the car park was "choc-a-block" and as we walked the half mile from a path skirting the side of a field, the walking down the road and then finally treading gingerly over a very slippery boardwalk we joined a throng of birders at the viewpoint over the Broad.

3 superb male Smew were seen at the back. This trio of male Smew were very smart looking birds with their white plumage offset by black lines looking like cracks in ice.

Amongst some Pochard and Tufted Duck I spotted the fine male Ferruginous Duck. Its plumage was a fine rich purplish tinged chestnut with its yellow eye standing out and when it dived you could also see the white rear underparts too, another cracking bird on what was fast becoming one of my best winter's days birding ever! Amongst the ducks were 2 female Goldeneye and a very smart Goldeneye. Over to the right a female Goosander swam by.

Our last stop was between Horning/ Upper street and Ludham. As we drove by, we could see Chris scoping the Bewick's Swans standing in a sugar beet field. I finally managed to park up nearby and John, Andrew & I enjoyed the marvellous sight of some 170 wild Swans feeding amongst the beet crop, I counted 12 Whooper Swans  (including at least 1 immature) and their smaller daintier cousins, some 158 Bewick's Swans. Several Bewicks Swans also flew in during our stay here.